Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Fifty-Two

"'cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone, its where you go when you're alone. it's not just where you lay your head, its not just where you make your bed, as long as we're together, does it matter where we go?" 

--Gabrielle Aplin, Home 

 dedicated to @foxyahs for her hilarious comments on every single chapter. yep. every single one. you're amazing, girl. i can't thank you enough for your support. <3 xx

juanuary 31st, 2016 / kaunas, lithuania 

"sveiki! (hello!)

i have to say, winter in lithuania is beautiful. people always talk and fantasize over winning an all-expense paid trip to london or paris or madrid or rome, and believe me, those places are beautiful - but lithuania has a different tone of beautiful. it is overlooked and underrated. its literally a hidden gem. i can't believe i haven't been here before, but now that i'm here, i never want to leave.  

maybe its just a coincidence, but there are a lot of blonde people here. i stick out like a sore thumb, honestly. go brunnettes. 

i'm writing to you from a historical coffee shop, although that term is incorrect -- everything here feels old. the ancient, gorgeous buildings loom over me, and each brick tells a story from a different time period, each weathered windowpane has been looked through by a person who lived, so many years ago. the buildings and shoppes are on cobblestoned streets. there aren't any skyscrapers here. iron lamposts adorn every corner. i love it. 

i'm here for a month. duke has sent me and several others abroad in the child, youth, and community development program to help less fortunate kids. we'll be going to one country per continent (excluding anarctica, sadly.) and i'm grateful they chose lithuania in the europe portion. i'm not exactly sure what countries we'll be visiting for asia or south america or africa or australia yet, but surprises are always the best part of travelling, so why not. 

all the volunteers are assisting in refurbishing and painting a rundown primary school in vilnius. i'm mainly helping as a teacher's assistant at the school, too. i teach kids english and maths. (very basic math, to be honest.) there's this cute little boy in the first grade named jonas, and you know what he asked me? 

'yra begalybė lyginis ar nelyginis skaičius?' he asked. 

that means "is infinity an odd or even number?' 

i instantly thought of you, and i copied your answer. hope you don't mind. 

my break's almost over, and i'm stuffed. i've already finished two plates of cepelinai, which was fantastically delicious, by the way. (it's the lithuanian national dish. it's like a dumpling with grated potatoes stuffed with meat and cottage cheese. they don't have to-go boxes, which i gotta say, is a disappointment because i could've ordered two or sixty more.)

write back and tell all about your adventures and mischeif in denmark. we won't be in the same continent forever!

kas nors. (bye)

love, vienna"  

-

February 3rd, 2016 / Copenhagen, Denmark

"God, it's so good to hear from you. Lithuania sounds pretty cool. If they ever do make to-go boxes, send one over here, dorm fifty-two!

By the way, Lithuania is 1,603.6 km away from Denmark. One hundred twenty hours on foot, but only fifteen hours on car. I'm up for that road trip if you are?